The Hero’s Journey Experience in Great Movies: The Oscars 2026

• Date: 15 march
• One day seminar with Peter de Kuster 
• Price: Euro 695 excluding VAT

You can also follow Peter’s stories about the Oscars 2026 on linkedin.

“Your story is your life,” says Peter. As human beings, we continually tell ourselves stories—of success or failure; of power or victimhood; stories that endure for an hour, or a day, or an entire lifetime. We have stories about ourselves, our creative business, our customers; about what we want and what we’re capable of achieving. Yet, while our stories profoundly affect how others see us and we see ourselves, too few of us even recognize that we’re telling stories, or what they are, or that we can change them—and, in turn, transform our very destinies.

Telling ourselves stories provides structure and direction as we navigate life’s challenges and opportunities, and helps us interpret our goals and skills. Stories make sense of chaos; they organize our many divergent experiences into a coherent thread; they shape our entire reality. And far too many of our stories, says Peter, are dysfunctional, in need of serious editing. First, he asks you to answer the question, “In which areas of my life is it clear that I cannot achieve my goals with the story I’ve got?” He then shows you how to create new, reality-based stories that inspire you to action, and take you where you want to go both in your work and personal life.

Peter connects this directly to the Oscars on March 15, where the film world’s greatest stories will be celebrated—and dissected as mirrors for our own. “The Academy Awards aren’t just about glamour and gold statues,” Peter explains. “They’re a masterclass in the Power of Your Story, showing how edited narratives propel heroes toward destiny.” He illustrates with Oscar-nominated gems from past and present, tying their arcs to your life-editing toolkit.

Our capacity to tell stories is one of our profoundest gifts. Peter’s approach—now supercharged with Oscar lenses—gives you tools to wield storytelling’s power. On March 15, as speeches echo, you’ll see nominees not as fiction, but blueprints: edit hopefully, act boldly, transform business and life forever. Your story awaits its statue moment.

Journey Outline

OLD STORIES

• The Power of your Story
• Your Story is Your Life, Your Life is Your Story
• What is Your Story?
• Your Hero’s Journey
• Is It Really Your Story You Are Living?
• Old Stories  (stories about you, your art, your clients, your money, your self promotion, your happiness, your health)
• Tell your current Story

YOUR NEW STORY

• The Premise of your Story. The Purpose of your Life and Art
• The words on your tombstone
• You ultimate mission, out loud
• The Seven Great Plots
• The Twelve Archetypal Heroes
• The One Great Story
• Purpose is Never Forgettable
• Questioning the Premise
• Lining up
• Flawed Alignment, Tragic Ending
• The Three Rules in Storytelling
• Write Your New Story

TURNING STORY INTO ACTION

• Turning your story into action
• Story Ritualizing
• The Storyteller and the art of story
• The Power of Your Story
• Storyboarding your creative process
• They Created and Lived Happily Ever After.

About Peter de Kuster

Peter de Kuster is the founder of The Heroine’s Journey & Hero’s Journey project,  a storyteller who helps creative professionals to create careers and lives based on whatever story is most integral to their lives and careers (values, traits, skills and experiences). Peter’s approach combines in-depth storytelling and marketing expertise, and for over 20 years clients have found it effective with a wide range of creative business issues.

Peter is writer of the series The Heroine’s Journey and Hero’s Journey books, he has an MBA in Marketing,  MBA in Financial Economics.

The Power of Your Story

What do I mean with ‘story’?  I don’t intend to offer tips on how to fine-tine the mechanics of telling stories to enhance the desired effect on listeners.

I wish to examine the most compelling story about storytelling – namely, how we tell stories about ourselves to ourselves. Indeed, the idea of ‘one’s own story’ is so powerful, so native, that I hardly consider it a metaphor, as if it is some new lens through which to look at life.  Your story is your life.  Your life is your story. 

When stories we watch touch us, they do so because they fundamentally remind us of what is most true or possible in life – even when it is a escapist romantic story or fairy tale or myth. If you are human, then you tell yourself stories – positive ones and negative, consciously and, far more than not, subconsciously.  Stories that span a single episode, or a year, or a semester, or a weekend, or a relationship, or a season, or an entire tenure on this planet.

Jay Kelly (2026 Oscar nominee for Best Picture, directed by Noah Baumbach, starring George Clooney), is the perfect cinematic mirror for this truth. This poignant, humor-filled journey follows famous movie actor Jay Kelly on a path of self-discovery, confronting his past and present alongside his devoted manager Ron. Pitched at the intersection of regrets and glories, the film doesn’t just depict a Hollywood star’s arc—it embodies how we narrate our inner lives, consciously and subconsciously, across episodes and lifetimes. Jay’s story spans decades: early breakthroughs (the “glory” weekends), mid-career slumps (the “regret” seasons), and a late-season reckoning where he audits the tale he’s told himself—”Fading icon, propped by loyalty”—rewriting it into something truer and more possible.

Why Jay Kelly Touches Us: A Reminder of Our Own Stories

Viewers feel Jay Kelly deeply because it reflects what’s “most true or possible” in our lives. Jay’s conscious story? “I’m the star who peaked; now I coast.” Subconscious undercurrent: “Ron enables my denial; without him, I’m nothing.” These span a single awkward interview (episode), a forgotten role (year), a lifetime of spotlights masking vulnerability (tenure). Like us, Jay barely recognizes his self-narratives until crisis forces the mirror—much as the film forces us to spot ours. Is your “creative business” tale “Reliable but uninspired,” subconsciously whispering “Too old for risks”? A relationship arc “Stable forever,” hiding “Settled into complacency”? The movie’s power lies in showing these as native, non-metaphorical: Jay’s life is his story, positive (glory highs) and negative (regret lows).

From Subconscious Myth to Conscious Possibility

Even escapist elements—Jay’s humorous manager banter, glamorous cameos—remind us of real potential. Noah Baumbach crafts Jay not as victim or flawless hero, but a man whose stories evolve: a weekend epiphany reframes a “failure” audition as “the pivot that saved me.” Nominee buzz for Clooney and Adam Sandler underscores this—acting as inner storytelling made visible. When Jay confronts Ron, it’s our moment: What subconscious tale (a semester of doubt, a season of overwork) have you let define you? Jay Kelly illustrates that films touch us by echoing these threads, urging us toward the possible: rewrite consciously, live the story you want. Your tenure on this planet awaits its next chapter